Friday, April 01, 2011

A Race for School Committee Forms Days Before Election

There is now a race for the two open Wrentham Public School Committee seats. On the ballot are Lynn Desrochers and Ed Goddard. A write-in campaign has been announced by Heather Cunningham. "I feel that I have a responsibility to do what I can to have a positive impact in our school system," wrote Cunningham in an email to Wrentham residents.

Cunningham is an elementary literacy specialist at the Cottage School in Sharon. She has also served as a Literacy Coach at Sharon Middle School, as an elementary literacy specialist in the Foxborough Public Schools and was an elementary classroom teacher for 10 years in Sharon. She has taught professional development courses on independent reading, balanced literacy, book clubs, and managing effective writers’ workshops for the elementary and middle school teachers. She received her B.S. in Elementary Education and a M.Ed. in Reading from Bridgewater State.

By the fall all three of Cunningham’s children will be enrolled in Wrentham Public Schools. "Our schools have done their best to function within the ever shrinking-budget, but things are difficult," she wrote in her email. "Our current per pupil expenditure is lower than any neighboring town- less than even the state average. Our current class size and student/teacher ratios are far from ideal and not consistent with Department of Education recommendations or area schools/districts by a large margin. As a parent and educator this concerns me greatly."

Ed Goddard

Ed Goddard, a father of three, who in the past has served on both the School Committee and Board of Selectman has concerns about the current economic conditions and the impact this has on the schools. “I want to be on the School Committee to use my legal training and business background, as well as my intimate knowledge of local government as a former selectman, to help the elementary schools weather the present financial difficulties,” Goddard wrote via email. “I am proud to have taken the lead role in my prior term in hiring Dr. Marsden [Superintendent, Wrentham Public Schools] and fully support his leadership team. I also look forward to continuing my financial support of WEST [Wrentham Elementary School Trust], of which I was a founding member.” Goddard received his undergraduate degree from Brown University and graduated from Boston University Law School. He currently serves as vice president of labor relations for a national Fortune 500 company.

“I understand budgets and advocacy because I deal with this every day,” wrote Goddard. “People should vote for me based on my training, my prior work on the School Committee and as a Selectman and because I went through the process of obtaining signatures to get myself on the ballot, which shows a strong commitment to doing the job.”

Lynn Desrochers

Lynn Desrochers is an active volunteer in the schools and an entrepreneur, who has two children in the elementary school and her oldest is a junior at King Philip Regional High School. Desrochers has served on the PTO Board of Wrentham Elementary as vice president and has been the School Committee liaison. “That is where my interest in the School Committee became more than that of a passive observer and parent,” wrote Desrochers. “I have continued to attend meetings and participated whenever possible over the years, and I am current with all of the circumstances and undertakings the school is currently facing. I feel I can ‘hit the ground running’ as they say,” she wrote in an email. “My husband, Roland, and I have always been involved with the community and especially the schools, volunteering and working closely with teachers as a room parent and chairing events and volunteer efforts at all levels and all schools.”

Desrochers says her background is in business with both a BS degree and an MB. She worked as the director of sales and marketing at a firm in Boston before she gave it up to be home with her children in their early years. She now owns and operates an Internet service company called BookwormRegistry.com, a free service for schools and libraries to obtain the books they need for their classrooms through direct donations. “We have helped Wrentham Elementary receive over 130 books in the last year alone,” Desrochers says.

“As a member of the School Committee I would make sure that the school remains a focus and a priority in our town at all times, and not just when it’s budget season as we fall short year after year,” Desrochers says. “We need to protect it and communicate its importance all of the time, with continued care and communication.”

Diane Rook has also launched a write-in campaign to retain her seat on the Fiske Library Trustee Board. The election is April 4. To vote for a write in candidate, voters need to write both the person's name and their address in the write-in spot on the ballot.